4 suspected JMB activists held in Mymensingh; police say they were planning New Year attacks

Police in Mymensingh have arrested four suspected militants, who, they say, were planning attacks during the Bangla New Year celebrations.

Detective Branch (DB) said the activists of the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were held in the early hours of Wednesday from a house at Dapuniya near the district town.

“Police raided the house on a tip-off. Bomb-making materials and jihadi literature were found on the four,” said Mymensingh DB chief Imarat Hossain.

Details will be given at a media briefing later on Wednesday, he said.

The JMB hit the headlines in the aftermath of the 2001 bombings by militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad at Dhaka’s Ramna Park.

The attack, on Apr 14 that year, during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations, left 10 people dead and scores of others injured.

Later, it was the JMB, which was behind the 2002 blasts at four movie theatres in Mymensingh town that killed 18 people and injured more than 150.

In 2005, soon after being banned by the government, the JMB triggered serial blasts in over 600 locations across 63 districts in Bangladesh.

On that ill-fated day, at least three blasts occurred at several places in Mymensingh, including the court premises and the Bangladesh Agricultural University campus.